Contributing guide

API changes

All API changes should follow the style guide.

The following high level procedure is used to make Envoy changes that require API changes.

Create a PR in this repo for the API/configuration changes. (If it helps to discuss the configuration changes in the context of a code change, it is acceptable to point a code change at a temporary fork of this repo so it passes tests).

Run the automated formatting checks on your change before submitting the PR:
```
./ci/run_envoy_docker.sh './ci/do_ci.sh check_format'
```
If the check_format script reports any problems, you can fix them manually or run the companion fix_format script:
```
./ci/run_envoy_docker.sh './ci/do_ci.sh fix_format'
```
Before building the docs
Bazel can be used to build/test locally.
1. Directly on Linux:
```
bazel build //envoy/...
bazel test //test/... //tools/...
```
2. Using docker:
```
./ci/run_envoy_docker.sh './ci/do_ci.sh bazel.test'
./ci/run_envoy_docker.sh './ci/do_ci.sh bazel.docs'
```
  Note: New .proto files should be also included to build.sh and BUILD in order to get the RSTs generated.
All configuration changes should have temporary associated documentation. Fields should be hidden from the documentation via the [#not-implemented-hide:] comment tag. E.g.,
```
// [#not-implemented-hide:] Some new cool field that I'm going to implement and then
// come back and doc for real!
string foo_field = 3;
```
Additionally, constraints should be specified for new fields if applicable. E.g.,
```
string endpoint = 2 [(validate.rules).message.required = true];
```
Next, the feature should be implemented in Envoy. New versions of data-plane-api are brought in via editing this file.
Once (4) is completed, come back here and unhide the field from documentation and complete all documentation around the new feature. This may include architecture docs, etc. Optimally, the PR for documentation should be reviewed at the same time that the feature PR is reviewed in the Envoy repository. See the following section for tips on writing documentation.

Documentation changes

The Envoy project takes documentation seriously. We view it as one of the reasons the project has seen rapid adoption. As such, it is required that all features have complete documentation. This is generally going to be a combination of API documentation as well as architecture/overview documentation.

Building documentation locally

The documentation can be built locally in the root of this repo via:

docs/build.sh

Or to use a hermetic docker container:

./ci/run_envoy_docker.sh './ci/do_ci.sh bazel.docs'

This process builds RST documentation directly from the proto files, merges it with the static RST files, and then runs Sphinx over the entire tree to produce the final documentation. The generated RST files are not committed as they are regenerated every time the documentation is built.

Viewing documentation

Once the documentation is built, it is available rooted at generated/docs/index.html. The generated RST files are also viewable in generated/rst.

Note also that the generated documentation can be viewed in CI:

Open docs job in CircleCI.
Navigate to "artifacts" tab.
Expand files and click on index.html.

If you do not see an artifacts tab this is a bug in CircleCI. Try logging out and logging back in.

Documentation guidelines

The following are some general guidelines around documentation.

Cross link as much as possible. Sphinx is fantastic at this. Use it! See ample examples with the existing documentation as a guide.
Please use a single space after a period in documentation so that all generated text is consistent.
Comments can be left inside comments if needed (that's pretty deep, right?) via the [#comment:] special tag. E.g.,
```
// This is a really cool field!
// [#comment:TODO(mattklein123): Do something cooler]
string foo_field = 3;
```
Prefer italics for emphasis as backtick emphasis is somewhat jarring in our Sphinx theme.
All documentation is expected to use proper English grammar with proper punctuation. If you are not a fluent English speaker please let us know and we will help out.
Tag messages/enum/files with [#proto-status: draft|experimental|frozen] to reflect their API status. Frozen entities do not need to be tagged except when overriding an outer scope draft or experimental status.

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